Mike Ness (Re: SxSW)
Sheesh, isn't everyone?? g. I'll still put their "Making Believe" up against any rock cover of a country song And then Jon wrote something like "good thing that g is in there" (which *was* funny). That said tho, Nessie does have the ability, at least lyrically, to write many great country songs; "I Was Wrong" off of that last record they did (I think it was the last) was as powerful as any post-punk song I've ever heard, one of those songs that slices right into the core of the listener with a "man, that's a little too close to home" feeling-at least it did for me. I'd love to heard a country-oriented act cover that. He's a little too limited in the sound and type of songs he writes w/ Social Distortion, but I wouldn't put anything past the guy. If this thing is really gonna be an acoustic folkish-country record I'll be there the day it's released. Dan, still laughing at the Brooks/Padres clips.
SXSW - What is the deal
What is the deal with SXSW anyway? It seems it is no longer a cattle call for "new undiscovered" talent, but a chance for record companies to jerk off and flaunt who they have in front of others. Ok, I can see someone playing to maybe try to get a booking agent if they don't have one, or a manager, or even better distribution bla bla, or hell, a label even. But you can't tell me that many of the people they have playing don't already have much of that working for them? Come on... Leon Russell, Lucinda, Cesar Rosas... man. If these guys really need to play a cattle call then I am pretty damn depressed. I have records by many of the bands I saw on the list. Are they paying these guys to play to help draw a crowd? Someone tell me, do these guys really need to do these gigs?
Re: SXSW - What is the deal
In a message dated 2/14/99 4:44:55 PM !!!First Boot!!!, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: What is the deal with SXSW anyway? It seems it is no longer a cattle call for "new undiscovered" talent, but a chance for record companies to jerk off and flaunt who they have in front of others. Nancy, Nancy, Nancy, It's obvious that you haven't paid attention to what I have been saying on why I won't attend these festivals any longer, and why the people whom originally started the SXSW are no longer involved in it. Mitch Matthews Gravel Train/Sunken Road np: Kim Richey "Just My Luck"
Elvis query
Can some explain to me what the initials "TCB" mean with regard to Elvis? I'm asking about a sort of insignia with a lightning bolt in the middle and the letters TCB above it. many thanks, --jnyah
Re: Elvis query
BARNARD wrote: Can some explain to me what the initials "TCB" mean with regard to Elvis? I'm asking about a sort of insignia with a lightning bolt in the middle and the letters TCB above it. many thanks, --jnyah takin care of business Thankyewverymuch
Re: Elvis query
BARNARD wrote: Can some explain to me what the initials "TCB" mean with regard to Elvis? I'm asking about a sort of insignia with a lightning bolt in the middle and the letters TCB above it. many thanks, --jnyah Get ye to Memphis, lad, and witness the TCB on the jets and damn near everywhere else. I think one of the jets is called the tcb.
Americana Showcase - Tuesday Feb 16th - Charlotte, NC
Hi all of you NC/SC Americana Fans: Time for the weekly update for the Charlotte Americana Showcase, held weekly at the Double Door Inn, 9:00 PM $5.00 cover. This Tuesday, February 16th: Lenny Federal hosts with Michael Reno Harrell and special guests Elena Skye and the Demolition String Band Elena along with Charlotte native Boo Reiners and the rest of the Demolition Stringers have been delivering their fresh take on retro honky tonk for the last 5 years in NYC. They are regulars at Greg Garing's Alphabet City Opry (the NYC version of our Showcase) and were recently part of the Hank Williams Birthday Tribute. Skye began playing bluegrass at age 14 and studied mandolin with Kenneth "Jethro" Burns (Homer Jethro). Boo began playing 5-string banjo in NC and he has played with musicians ranging from Brian Setzer, Donald Fagen, Steve Earle to Freedy Johnson. The band is currently touring in support of their debut release, "One Dog Town" - "performances .. by an eclectic cast of musicians who converged where honk-a-billy swagger, good bluegrass raisin' and some rock and roll battle scars nudge, bump and grind into each other in an oilydirt lot at a county fairgrounds." Come on out Tuesday night - we don't want Boo's bandmates thinkin' that NYC audiences are better than his homies'!!! Maxx MaxxMusic The Charlotte Americana Showcase
RE: I'll Fly Away
It would not surprise me to know that Albert E. Brumley wrote it more or less from scratch; he was one, er, heck of a gospel songwriter. The "olde camp meetings songs" was most likely more an ad slogan (the way that some early labels put "old familiar songs" as a category before settling into "country") than an indication that they were actually old songs. Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
Re: Elvis query
At 12:19 PM 99-02-14, David Cantwell wrote: Last year I read a book written by June Juanico, an early girlfriend of Elvis', that claimed that Takin Care Of Business was bowdlerized version of TCB, that later took on a life of its own. She maintained that it originally stood for The Cherry Busters - since Elvis and his posse were surrounded by willing young girls. Taking Care 0f Business (In a Flash). This was The King's personal logo/motto/ whatever in the last years of his touring life. His band and the mafia all had rings etc with the symbol, and he would give them out as gifts to others as well. Just recently Graceland has started to market TCB stuff, so I now proudly wear my own TCB pin on my leather jacket. Thankyouverymuch. --dc At 10:54 AM 2/14/99 -0600, you wrote: Can some explain to me what the initials "TCB" mean with regard to Elvis? I'm asking about a sort of insignia with a lightning bolt in the middle and the letters TCB above it. many thanks, --jnyah best, jfb John F Butland O- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Garth's Field Of Dreams
From Peter Gammons' baseball column in today's Boston Globe. Padre pipedream Vaughn's replacement in San Diego, Garth Brooks, isn't just going to spring training, he has told the Padres that he wants to play the entire season in the minor leagues, at age 37. The scouting report on Brooks reads ''25-30 arm (out of 80), 20 hitter,'' which is what a good Brookline High School left fielder would get. There's at least one very good baseball mind in that organization who recommended Shania Twain over Brooks
Re: Garth's Field Of Dreams
In a message dated 2/14/99 4:54:02 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Vaughn's replacement in San Diego, Garth Brooks, isn't just going to spring training, he has told the Padres that he wants to play the entire season in the minor leagues, at age 37. While many of us have expressed shock, pathos, and other mixed emotions about Garth's folly, if I had his money and clout I would love to spend a year driving a stock car. Why is he doing this? Because he can. Fireball Slim
Re: Garth's Field Of Dreams
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 2/14/99 4:54:02 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Vaughn's replacement in San Diego, Garth Brooks, isn't just going to spring training, he has told the Padres that he wants to play the entire season in the minor leagues, at age 37. While many of us have expressed shock, pathos, and other mixed emotions about Garth's folly, if I had his money and clout I would love to spend a year driving a stock car. Why is he doing this? Because he can. Fireball Slim Yah, except Stock Car racing is booming, while the Pods are in deep doo doo financiallly and with the fans (my brothers in SD both said fuck em after the first fire sale). Garth can do it because its good pr for the club owners. Plus hes not likely to kill anyone out there. Stuart recalling when Steve Garvey got traded to the Pods, put on that old uniform and said, "I look like a chili dog" Oh twang: np: Howlin Wolf Chess masters: Don't get no better than this.
Re: Elvis query
BARNARD wrote: Can some explain to me what the initials "TCB" mean with regard to Elvis? Taking Care of Banana peanut butter sandwiches Taking Care of Bad television Taking Care of Burgers William W Western
Re: Be Like Mike (no, the other Mike)
Prince has also been cited by Chuck D. as a profound influence, while Dr. Dre has pointed to the Black Album as a major influence on NWA. If someone's already pointed this out, sorry, but I've been gone doing Mardi Gras stuff all weekend, and I didn't get any of Saturday or Sunday's messages. Anyway, for the record, Dr. Dre was in a pre-NWA group known as the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which began as a shameless Prince knock-off--lace and all. And, then, NWA's "look" was an open bite of Run-DMC--according to MC Ren, anyway. As for Chuck and PE, I like to think Coltrane's sheets-of-sound, late-50's/early 60's stuff was a precursor to the PE/Bomb Squad sound. But, maybe that's just me. Lance . . .
Lloyd Maines
GUITARIST MAINES PROUD OF DIXIE CHICKS DAUGHTER * Jack Hurst * 02/12/99 Chicago Tribune (Copyright 1999 by the Chicago Tribune) A Dixie rooster is coming to town. Lloyd Maines, influential Texas record producer and father of Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines, will arrive in Chicagoland this week for three shows -- at Schuba's Feb. 17, The Hideout Feb. 19 and FitzGerald's in Berwyn Feb. 20 -- and recording sessions with the Chicago band Trigger Gospel. On the performance dates the elder Maines will work as half of a duo with rising 30-year-old Texas singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix. The Hideout show will be with Trigger Gospel, while at FitzGerald's they'll open for Dave Alvin. "Terri and I've been doing gigs together for nine or 10 months," reports Maines, who also periodically plays pedal steel behind not only the Chicks but Texas rock or folk notables Joe Ely, Jerry Jeff Walker and Robert Earl Keen. "Her music is real fresh, positive material, and it's a fun thing to play because it's mainly acoustic. I play dobro and acoustic guitar. I'm actually going to have my pedal steel in Chicago, because Trigger Gospel wants me to play steel on a couple of their songs, so I'll probably set my steel up with Terri, too. I'll be playing more dobro than steel, though." Maines, 47, has been involved in the recording of albums for a horde of important independent acts operating out of Texas. Besides those already mentioned, the names range from James McMurtry, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Wayne "The Train" Hancock to the Bad Livers, Bruce and Charlie Robison and the Maines Brothers. The day of this interview, he was heading to Oklahoma City from Austin to conduct music for the second play he has been connected with. He first heard Hendrix, he says, when an engineer working on Wayne Hancock's second album gave him a guitar-vocal demo tape. He liked her songs "from the git-go" because they struck him as true-to-life. Eventually he produced her first album, "Wilory Farm," on her own Tycoon Cowgirl Records in San Marcos. "She actually was offered a few small-label deals, (but) she opted just to raise the money herself," Maines says, adding that Hendrix found investors among "a pool of friends" and already has paid them off. "The record's been out since June, and she's sold a bunch of copies already and hasn't even left Texas." Chicago will be Hendrix's first venture out, and Maines is using his West Coast connections to get together a California tour as well. He already has assisted in the leasing of her album to Continental Records in The Netherlands. By contrast, he indicates that his efforts in behalf of daughter Natalie have been much less aggressive. "I try not to be a stage father at all," he says. "I can't stand that." But he did produce the demo tape on which charter Chicks Martie Seidel and Emily Erwin first heard Natalie sing. He also gave them the tape, but in a very offhand way. Having played steel on previous Chicks albums, he had had them out to his house for dinner several times his wife and their daughter, so the other Chicks had known Natalie for years. They just didn't know she sang. Even the world now knows that she evermore does. Lloyd's daughter's chops and cool supplied whatever was missing from the earlier Chicks. Their 1998-released first Monument Records album, which was their initial effort with Natalie, has sold nearly four million already. Her father does acknowledge that she brings the group a hot presence. "When the Lord was passing out sass," he says, "Natalie was at the head of the line."
George Jones and Bluegrass
IT'S A TRADITION * GOOD IS GOOD, BE IT BLUEGRASS OR COUNTRY MUSIC, SAY THE ORGANIZERS OF * THE SUNSHINE STATE BLUEGRASS AND TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL Steve Webb * 02/12/99 Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Copyright 1999) *For a country music fan, it is a dream of a festival bill: The greatest living country singer (and maybe the greatest all time) * headlining a bill that also includes some of the best bluegrass talent performing today. Does it really tarnish that dream in any way that George Jones - the Texan honky-tonker who began his career on the fringes of '50s rockabilly and went on to define the potential commercial country * would have during the '60s and '70s - is headlining a bluegrass festival? "I'll bet you that the crowd around the stage on Saturday night, when George is playing, will be the biggest of the weekend," said Jim McReynolds of Jim and Jesse, whose Virginia Boys are returning for one of the guitarist's favorite festivals of the year. McReynolds describes a festival last summer where Porter Wagoner * was on an otherwise exclusively bluegrass bill. "He drew a huge * crowd, and it wasn't non-bluegrass fans," McReynolds said. "People * who like bluegrass like good traditional country singers." For their parts, organizers Bill and Charlotte Pattie are billing * this year's event as the Sunshine Bluegrass and Traditional Country * Music Festival to alert people that, yes, it's that George Jones playing alongside the Lewis Family, Jim and Jesse, and the others. *"One thing we've figured out is that it is a traditional country * music audience in the first place," Pattie said by telephone from his * Punta Gorda home. "They go to a bluegrass festival because bluegrass is part of traditional country in ways that modern country isn't." The Patties organize the festival both as a business - it interupts their regular business too much not to - and to raise money, back-to-school clothes and canned goods for various charity groups. "We've collected enough food to feed 100,000 people and have helped to clothe 15,000 needy school children," Pattie said with as much pride as when he describes the talent that will be on stage. "You can't get any bigger than George, and in Mike Snyder, we've * got the top draw in bluegrass right now," Pattie said. "Who's * probably got the best rendition of tradional bluegrass right now is Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, along with that super harmonica player they bring with them, Mike Stevens." *The joke goes that it takes three bluegrass fans to change a lightbulb - two to assidiously research that the new bulb is an exact replica of the one before it, and one to then screw the bulb in (actually, "rolling" it in; three-finger-style is preferred). *This kind of logic, that bluegrass is a very specific musical form that must be kept unpolluted from either modernism or the traditions that came before it, really doesn't have much to do with the view Pattie always has maintained about the form. *"I wrote an article several years ago called `Bluegrass: America's Music;' it said that we would recognize America's original music from when the pioneers went west, and the camps of both sides in the Civil * War as bluegrass - banjo, fiddle, guitar doing the same things with * the same chords," Pattie said. "Bluegrass marched along with America since America was here, but a fellow came along in the '40s named Bill Monroe, and did such great things with the music with his Blue * Grass Boys that people just started calling it `bluegrass.' But you see an old John Wayne movie and what do they play at the campfire? * Bluegrass." A second view is that the distillation actually created a new form - that Monroe and the other members of his 1945 - 48 quintet all found new roles for their individual instruments that resulted in as bold a progression from traditional string-band music as the concurrent bebop movement was from swing or traditional jazz. *Jones' career fits into the second version of bluegrass better than the first. Many of his records have referred to country that came before him. His earliest recordings on Starday in the mid-'50s were the most-overt Hank Williams imitations this side of Bocephus: Jones strains to capture Williams' rough-hewn moan on the two-step cheatin' song that was his debut, "Why Baby Why." A year later, he built his own "Just One More" from that quintessential waltz of pain, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." The people around him, particularly his earliest labels, saw more potential than he did in the nascient rockabilly movement of the early '50s. But his
Jim and Jesse
JIM AND JESSE: * DEFINING BLUEGRASS, DEFYING CONVENTION Steve Webb * 02/12/99 Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Copyright 1999) Jim McReynolds, who with brother Jesse McReynolds formed one of * the earliest groups to perfect the high lonesome sound of bluegrass playing and singing, has a message about the style that, for years, has been celebrated as mountain music's chamber music, an oasis of consistency amid the ebb and flow of commercial country: It was never that simple. "We were inspired by Bill Monroe," McReynolds said of Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys' earliest performances in 1947, "but we were also very aware that we didn't want to sound just like Bill Monroe. We looked for different things we could do, and if you fail - well, you fail as yourself rather than have everyone listening and going, `Well, they just tried to imitate Bill Monroe.' " That meant that Jesse McReynolds would develop a cross-picking mandolin style that owed more to Earl Scruggs' banjo technique than to Monroe's mandolin style. It meant that other instruments would join the mix in the recording studio. And it meant that Jim and Jesse paid attention to having a contemporary repertoire, both for studio and concert purposes. "We were trying to go after something to make us stand out," Jim * said. "Remember, this was before the festival circuit. Bluegrass * musicians were part of country music and the goal was to impress the promoters handling country shows. The first thing they'd hit you with is, `What do you have on the charts?"' So they included a tympani on "Thunder Road," steel guitar on their version of "Truck Drivin' Man," and built a repertoire of truck and train songs epitomized by "Diesel on My Tail." Most notoriously, they were among the first country artists and * definitely the first bluegrass artists to record songs by rock pioneer Chuck Berry. "From time to time, some of the critics would be pretty harsh on what we were doing, but it worked for us," McReynolds said. "Those Chuck Bery songs - everybody loved those things. We still get requests for them. They worked for us." As does the performance by harmonica player Mike Stevens with the Virginia Boys. McReynolds said even that is not without its critics. * "Some people think it isn't a bluegrass instrument," he noted. "A lot of people don't remember Curly Bradshaw, who played harmonica on the National Barn Dance in Chicago, toured with Monroe. They forget DeFord Bailey, one of the original members of the `Grand Ole Opry.' Roy (Acuff) took DeFord on the road." It's like this: Guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass - they are all picked and strummed. If a group is to have any sustained notes or chords in its sound, the choices include fiddle, steel guitar or possibly a dobro, or some kind of wind instrument such as a horn or harmonica. The usual solution is to use a fiddle, but it isn't always the solution Jim and Jesse have chosen. "We toured with a steel guitar for a while," Jim recalled. "We've had fiddle players. Sonny James played fiddle on our first record. We had just hired a boy and he had a scheduling conflict for the session - I don't know what the conflict could have been; there was only one studio in Nashville in 1952. So Ken Nelson (Capitol Record's country producer) brought in Sonny." This was a year before James' recording debut as a singer and four years before his huge hit, "Young Love." "He had talent, but he was really more a showman than a player," McReynolds continued. He tells the story, in part, to contrast then with now. "It's a wonderful scene today. I can remember some years back that if you'd lose a band member, you'd spend forever finding someone talented to take his place," said McReynolds, who will celebrate his 72nd birthday on Saturday. "The festival scene has meant that, today, there's all sorts of talent out there."
Re: Elvis query
Hey there, Junior asks... Can some explain to me what the initials "TCB" mean with regard to Elvis? I'm asking about a sort of insignia with a lightning bolt in the middle and the letters TCB above it. Great googly moogly Junior. I'm sure by now I'm adding to the flood of replies, but the logo stands for Taking Care of Business with a Flash. (thats the lightning bolt - flash - geddit?) At Graceland you can buy a cool T shirt with a long dictionary type definition on the back, as well as replicas of the necklace and charm he used to give friends, family, etc. etc. I could toss in an Elvis joke here, but I wont. Later... CK ___ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
